Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Adam stays put while I haul my weekender bag out of the closet, then quickly shove some clothes in before I grab my phone charger and wrap it into a figure eight bunch on my way into the bathroom to toss toiletries into the bag.
I storm past Adam and down the hall where I toss the bag on the floor in front of Derek who’s standing by the front door with his hand on the doorknob.
My throat is clogged. My body is numb. My chest and sinuses feel like they’re on fire.
I spin around and storm to my office where I stuff my laptop, tablet, and day planner into my briefcase. I stomp back out and hand that to Derek, then grab my phone and purse, put shoes on and grab a coat.
Adam hasn’t come out of the bedroom.
From my periphery, I see Derek zip up my weekender bag, so I blow my hair out of my eyes while I grab my keys and storm outside, breathing hard.
Derek catches my hand as I get to my Cherokee.
“I’ll drive. Get someone to bring your car over tomorrow,” he says softly.
I whirl around to face him, on the verge of something. Crying. Screaming. Using my nails on his face? I don’t know.
But he senses something is about to blow and gives me a dark look. “Into the truck, Chloe. We’ll talk about this when we get home.”
Home?
I stare, taking big breaths, fighting warring urges in me to do something, I don’t know what… scream? Run? I don’t know.
He takes my keys from me, hits the lock button on my Cherokee, walks to his SUV and opens the passenger door for me before he opens the back door and puts my stuff inside, including the donut shop bag from earlier with the soup and the pastries. He must have taken it out of my fridge.
I climb in and pull the seatbelt on.
I should run out into the street. Cause a scene. Make the neighbors call the police.
But Adam is in there with his future hinging on all this.
And I’m here with my insides hollowed out by the rusty coat hanger.
As he backs out, I stare at the townhome. The townhome I didn’t want to buy. The townhome I cleaned my savings out for in order to give Adam the right environment to heal in. I stare at the van Derek helped buy him and then my eyes bounce up to the sky and I stare at that while I pull in air before slowing letting it out.
Adam’s in there by himself. By himself without me but with a whole lot of opportunity ahead of him.
Adam has bared his secrets to me as part of our ending.
And tonight, he’ll be sleeping in the sheets Derek fucked me in. Just like Derek wants. I had planned to change them, to defy him, but I didn’t get the chance.
I dash the tears off my face with my sleeves and pull out my phone.
I start typing into my text string with Adam.
Change the sheets before you
Derek grabs my phone out of my hand before I finish. He eyeballs the screen and then shoots me a dark look before I watch him backspace the letters away and pocket my phone.
I have no words. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to make me use any for the drive back to his apartment.
The parking lot is pretty full, not a surprise for a Friday night with his other club here.
When he parks, he says, “Wait there.”
He comes around to the passenger side and opens the door, leans in to click the seatbelt and then he plucks me out of the seat and sets me on my feet in front of him.
He looks into my eyes as he caresses my face.
I swallow down a lump of emotion and say nothing.
“I’ll make it all better,” he vows, then opens the back door, grabs my bag, my laptop bag, my purse, and the bag of food and carries them all to the door, still managing to hold it open for me.
I step inside and woodenly walk to the elevator.
When I get there, him behind me, the door opens and the blonde I ran into the last time I was here steps out and takes us in with surprise. His sister, Grace.
“Hey. What’s goin’ on?” she asks, eyes bouncing between me and Derek.
“Not now,” he grinds out. “Go ahead, baby,” he tells me.
I step into the elevator.
“Derek?” she inquires.
“Grace, this is Chloe. My girlfriend.” Derek looks at me and his face transforms from annoyed, splitting into a wide smile with his eyes lit with excitement. “Chloe, my sister, Grace. Later, Grace.” He loses the smile and presses the button.
“Your what?” Grace looks absolutely stunned.
I sag against the back wall of the elevator. Grace eyeballs me with concern.